Vatican X-Ray Dept.
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Personnel:
Mark Greenwood
Nicholas Grew
Alice Kemp
Kordian Tetkov
Matt Lord
To try and capture the spirit of what VXD was about is a little bit like trying to piss down the wrong end of a funnel when loads of people are watching, waiting for you to fail.
The birth of Vatican came about because Mighty Mike Macinernery, the infamous and dangerous shakuhachi player, was on good terms with the landlady of The Kingsbridge Inn in Totnes. Mike made Matt aware of the fact that there was a back room available on most Tuesday evenings and together with Ric Royer, the sensitive new-age artiste, they established The Kingsbridge Experiment which ran for many months showcasing, on a weekly basis, some of the primest joints you’ve ever sheen, including Analogorak, Ringo Christ and The Shadow.
The Original Line-Up
The rise of Vatican was by no means simple or obvious. Initially Matt played a solo gig, then he got a drummer, Muzz, to join him and Greenwood was meant to play too, however Mark forgot to bring his bass (a simple mistake, anyone could make it) and so the first official Vatican gig happened as a duo of Matt and Muzz. For the next gig Kordian Tetkov kindly took over on drums. This was a turning point for Vatican X-ray Dept.
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The Kingsbridge Experiment began to grow in notoriety, as did VXD. With their confrontational manner and outlandish stage presence Vatican became known for putting on a good show, however what largely went unnoticed was the fact that the early VXD was an improvisational band. Their sets were only established by titles when the three members met at the venue to play the gig.
The Next Step: The band’s final appearance at The Kingsbridge Experiment came in the form of a dark and moody gig where Nicholas Grew stepped in on electronics and Liam Yeates was VJ for the night. The event was variously described as ‘Drowning’ and ‘Feels like being fucked’.
Vatican’s rise was crowned by a gig at The Cavern in Exeter (thanks to “onec”) a live recording from which was included upon the Samuel Beckett centenery album Bend It Like Beckett. This was a moment of great joy for the band and they celebrated by holding an evening of debauchery at the swankiest hotel in town. They would never be allowed in the place again, or indeed hardly any place ever again.
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Their reputation proceeded them, but they were asked to play at the Sonic Arts Network Expo in Plymouth at the end of 07. Here they were joined by the ever wonderful Shirley Bastard and they got to showcase, for the first and last time, the material from their fetish album ‘Gimp Mask’.
Only a short while later the amazing warhorse that was VXD withered and drowned in it’s own ether.
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But as Beckett once said “In the landscape of extinction, precision is next to godliness” and Vatican knew how to hit that spot…….with studded leather mitts.
Further:
Flying Fist
Dr Ake
Uniform
Grutronic
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